With a small group of protesters camping outside at the FCC, Republican Commissioner Ajit Pai put out a statement Thursday urging FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler to delay the May 15 vote on a net neutrality NPRM. Democratic Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel on Wednesday also asked Wheeler to delay a vote (WID May 8 p14). An FCC spokesman said Wednesday the vote will take place as planned. “I have grave concerns about the Chairman’s proposal on Internet regulation and do not believe that it should be considered at the Commission’s May meeting,” Pai said (http://bit.ly/RrMzJh). “Instead, I believe that the Commission should focus for the next week on getting the rules for the incentive auction right."
The FCC approved a further NPRM on sharing in the 3.5 GHz band, with both Republican commissioners complaining that the exclusion zones proposed are much too big for the band to reach its potential as a laboratory for spectrum sharing. The notice largely proposes the same exclusion zones as the original rulemaking proposal from 2012, as was expected (CD April 23 p22). Use of the spectrum would be restricted inside the zones to protect government incumbents.
How fast does the Internet connection to schools and libraries really need to be? That question was a major focus of a Broadband US TV panel webcast Tuesday. Panelists disagreed on the need for further research into proper broadband speeds to schools, as some argued the FCC has to act fast, lest students continue to fall behind their international counterparts. As the FCC works on reforms to its E-rate program, the role of commercial networks -- and the agency’s ability to use E-rate funds for infrastructure buildout -- was also up for debate. At some point, the FCC will have to tackle contribution reform if it wants to continue pouring money into upgrades, panelists said.
How fast does the Internet connection to schools and libraries really need to be? That question was a major focus of a Broadband US TV panel webcast Tuesday. Panelists disagreed on the need for further research into proper broadband speeds to schools, as some argued the FCC has to act fast, lest students continue to fall behind their international counterparts. As the FCC works on reforms to its E-rate program, the role of commercial networks -- and the agency’s ability to use E-rate funds for infrastructure buildout -- was also up for debate. At some point, the FCC will have to tackle contribution reform if it wants to continue pouring money into upgrades, panelists said.
The FCC unanimously approved an order that prohibits competing top-four TV stations in a market from engaging in joint retransmission consent negotiations, as was expected (CD March 28 p1). The FCC is “leveling the negotiating table,” Chairman Tom Wheeler said Monday at the agency’s monthly meeting Monday. The order is aimed at helping to “curtail practices that would put upward pressure on cable companies,” he said. Joint negotiation by these stations “leads to higher retransmission consent fees because the practice reduces competition between the stations,” the Media Bureau said in a news release (http://bit.ly/1kjYotA). The commission also agreed to seek comment on a further notice of proposed rulemaking that looks at whether to eliminate or modify network non-duplication and syndicated exclusivity rules.
Prohibiting joint retransmission consent negotiations among broadcasters is “an important step” in reforming retrans negotiations as a whole, pay-TV representatives told FCC commissioners Ajit Pai and Mike O'Rielly and staff from Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel’s office in meetings last week, according to an ex parte filing (http://bit.ly/1lhhEMg). Charter, Dish Network, the American Cable Association, Time Warner Cable and DirecTV all participated in the meetings. Such arrangements are “starkly anticompetitive and harmful to consumers,” the ex parte said. The commission has received “empirical evidence” showing that retrans fees can be “up to 43 percent higher for jointly negotiated ‘Big Four’ stations that elect retransmission consent than the average fee paid for separately negotiated ‘Big Four’ stations,” the ex parte said.
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler continues to view the incentive auction as important to his priority of making more spectrum available for commercial use, but recent progress on development of the AWS-3 auction is also a “big deal,” said Renee Gregory, his wireless adviser, during an FCBA event. Industry observers have said the FCC slowed its work on incentive auction rules while simultaneously steaming ahead on rules for the AWS-3 auction, which must be wrapped up later this year (CD Feb 27 p1). The commission is to consider some of the AWS-3 rules, along with an order on Wi-Fi use on the 5.1 GHz band -- also known as the Unlicensed-National Information Infrastructure-1 (U-NII-1) band -- at its March 31 meeting. Wireless aides to the other FCC commissioners also noted during Thursday’s event that the commission continues to view the incentive auction as its main priority. The FCC remains “on track” to issue a report and order on the incentive auction rules this spring, Gregory said.
A proposed FCC draft order prohibiting joint negotiation in retransmission consent agreements by two top-four stations in a market is “an important first step in curbing broadcaster abuse and reforming the outdated retransmission consent regime,” American Cable Association, DirecTV and other multichannel video programming distributors said in a joint ex parte filing in docket 10-71 (http://bit.ly/1nnqM3w). The draft order began circulating Monday and is featured on the tentative agenda for the March 31 FCC meeting (CD March 11 p7). Such arrangements among separately owned broadcast stations “are starkly anticompetitive and harmful to consumers,” the MVPDs said. Broadcasters that coordinate their negotiations will pull two or more stations from an MVPD when their retrans consent demands aren’t met, “which increases the harm to consumers,” the MVPDs said. “Such harms take the form of increasing subscription rates and the loss of popular broadcast programming.” The filing recounts a meeting with Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel and her policy director, Clint Odom.
In just over four months as FCC chairman, Tom Wheeler has developed a reputation for mixing with staff, eating lunch in the commission lunchroom. Agency officials say he’s much quicker to head for another commissioner’s office for a meeting than was his immediate predecessor Julius Genachowski. He has also been willing in some cases to cut deals with the FCC’s two Republicans, Mike O'Rielly and Ajit Pai. But agency and industry officials tell us with huge issues looming, from media consolidation to spectrum aggregation, Wheeler is likely to also prove that on the issues most important to him, he’s not afraid of 3-2 votes.
The FCC H-block auction closed Thursday after 167 rounds and 24 bidding days, with total bids of $1.564 billion across the 176 Economic Area licenses. The FCC won’t provide results for a few days, but most analysts have long seen the most likely outcome as Dish Network buying almost all of the licenses (CD Feb 24 p12, Jan 28 p4). The money raised will pay part of the $7 billion startup cost of FirstNet, to be paid out of auction proceeds, industry observers said.